Ser’u
by planet p
Summary: AU; Radek and Rodney are assigned to checking out some alien tech on another planet. Pretty lame.
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own _Stargate: Atlantis_, obviously._

* * *

1.

Ser'u was an isolated planet, but was by no means technologically isolated, that much, Radek Zelenka decided, was evident just by the 'elevator' in which he was currently standing, in the immense commerce complex, as Ailya Torreno and Rodney McKay chatted busily beside him.

The elevator could have easily fit thirty people -- at the moment, it held maybe fifteen, twenty -- and the complex was forty levels in height, not including the parking levels.

Radek felt a slight twinge of unease, which began to grow as the levels ticked by on the monitor, becoming something more like sickness.

So, it wasn't a bad looking planet, but the thought of a forty-storey shopping complex was just... kinda ill.

Beside him, a girl frowned, turning, for a moment, to a group of other similarly aged girls to whisper something with quick movements, before turning back to Radek. Her eyes, he noticed, were grey, but the irises seemed to be patterned with a lacy overlay; the eyes of the girl next to her, the one whose hand she was holding, were blue, with fiery green and pink butterflies etched into her irises.

They were some sort of contact lenses, he decided, but what appeal they could possibly have other than the absurd, he could not fathom, but that, along with the shoes that played some sort of jingle that could have passed for modern music on Ser'u, seemed not to be all that bizarre, actually. The girls, he decided, too, were teenagers, sixteen or seventeen, and probably still attending school if their matching clothes were to indicate anything.

"Your eyes are very good," the lacy-eyed girl told him, in an accented English he couldn't say he'd ever heard before. "The colour is comparable to the feathers of the," she twiggled her fingers, evidently looking for the word, and laughed, "_ni'oon_. Very good."

Not knowing what to say, he said nothing. Rodney and Ailya were still chatting away as if there was nothing at all out of the ordinary.

"The name I am is Mil'ckk," the girl told him, giving a half nod.

Was he to talk now? "Radek," he replied, hoping he'd said the right thing.

"Exciting!" Mil'ckk cried, grinning.

He frowned.

"Stop," Mil'ckk yelped, "talk to me that is the name you are! What did you..." there was a whisper beside her, her butterfly-eyed friend leant in to speak quietly into her ear -- "_Say_!" -- and she finished: "say?" She frowned.

"Yes, Radek is my name," he answered.

The butterfly-eyed girl squealed, and Mil'ckk turned to her with the frown. "'Say'?" She continued in a babble of other, strange words to her friend.

"Selka is my name!" her friend screamed. "Is correct?"

Radek nodded, frightened just a little. "Or 'My name is... Selka...'," he added.

Selka screamed again. "My name is Selka!" she cried, turning to her friend with wide eyes, apparently excited.

"Selka, _chee_!" one of the girls whose names Radek hadn't learnt piped up.

Radek supposed that meant something like 'be quiet' or 'shut up.'

Selka dropped her shoulders, and turned back to Mil'ckk to whisper quietly in their native language with their foreheads pressed together.

"_Car'bla yer'k shib'ba tok'ka chee takk_," the girl who'd spoken before hissed at them.

"_Chee chee, Tiktik_!" Mil'ckk snapped back.

The girl's face darkned and she directed her glare at Radek. "Tiktik does not thought you conversation to _keet'ee_ Mil'ckk, _keet'ee_ Selka," she told him angrily.

He shook his head, actually frightened by this angry girl. She looked like she'd maybe hurt him if he said anything, anyway, so he kept quiet. He didn't think it'd look good if Ronon had to stun the girl to stop her from attacking him.

Tiktik was met with matching narrowed-eyed glares from Mil'ckk and Selka, but the girls didn't say anything back, aware that Tiktik's group was bigger than theirs.

Radek hoped the elevator ride would be over soon.

When Tiktik left the elevator, her posse following close behind, he heard Selka say, "_Tok'ka, keet'ee keet'ee yubba yar'k'bear keet'ee. Chee chee, keet'ee. Yer'k car'bla_," and Mil'ckk's quiet answering laugh.

Before he left the elevator, after a pointed glance from Rodney, he heard Mil'ckk tell him, "_Radek, car'gla yop'pa takk yer'k_," and the two girls giggled.

"What was that?" Rodney asked, as the elevator doors closed behind them. "I didn't catch the language."

"I don't know," Radek replied.

Rodney made a face, as though he'd missed out on something that could have been cool, and went back to talking with Ailya.

* * *

As they were walking, a loud shriek sounded beside Radek and he jumped away from the noise in alarm, his eyes going first to the group of girls who'd screamed, then to the girl now flouncing over in... chalk white body paint and a short see-through bubble dress and barking thigh-high, high heeled boots, their gleaming white teeth gnashing; rainbows in her eyes.

Ahead of Radek, Rodney and Ailya stopped, too, Ailya's mouth almost dropping open as young people milled around the pale girl whose name was Pom!pom! Farewell according to a man with a device much like a microphone -- the equivalent of a television star, on Earth -- and her co-star, Wave, was with her in a lurid, bright blue suit and singing high heeled shoes, singing the theme tune of Pom!pom!'s show.

As they watched, Ailya grabbed both Rodney's and Radek's arm and pulled them away from the growing crowd of youngsters, telling them loudly, "I don't think I want to know! Scratch that, I _know_ I don't want to know!"

The show, apparently, was called _Serena, Tropical Tropical, Serena_.

They hurried faster away from the growing mass.

When Radek looked, silently, as always, Ronon was striding behind them. They hadn't lost him in the burgeoning crowd, thankfully.

This was going to be a long, long day, he had the feeling.

* * *

Appendix A

Ser'uan

_al'fa_ -- down

_al'ma_ -- up

_Ban'ok'nam_ -- a river on Ser'u

_bin'yag_ -- to do with haste, or quickly

_brat'ta_ -- an animal similar to a horse

_car'bla_ -- bad luck; do not do this, it is frowned upon

_car'gla_ -- good luck; you can do this, you are not frowned upon for doing this

_chee_ -- _sl._ talk, talk; a talker, or shut up

_chon_ -- from, the origin of something*

_chu_ -- black

_chu'aw_ -- grey

_ek'ba_ -- goodbye, a farewell; _sl._ _ba_

_ek'ek_ -- hello, a greeting; _sl._ _ek_

_er'fa_ -- out, or outside (also, not a part of)

_er'ma_ -- in, or inside (also, a part of)

_fek_ -- when

_fen_ -- why

_fen'fen_ -- a type of popular sweet biscuit; _sl._ _fen_

_Feng'a_ -- a large city on Ser'u, on the continent Foo'lop

_fer_ -- who

_fet_ -- where

_fon_ -- what

_Foo'lop_ -- a continent of Ser'u

_g'nik'nik_ -- harmful; also to express that someone is ill, or that you feel ill

_ga'pa_ -- right, as in the direction

_ge'teg_ -- brown

_gup'gup_ -- eat

_har'ka_ -- feel

_heb'men'pa_ -- used to make a query sentence (this words makes a question from a normal sentence), e.g. The horse is red?, or Is the horse red?: _Brat'ta toe'poe heb'men'pa?_

_hep'ba_ -- to ask

_her'ta_ -- think

_hm'm_ -- being delicious

_hoo'th'ha_ -- to take time, or do slowly

_ib'ib_ -- male

_ib'lee_ -- to favour, or like males (as over females)

_ik'ik_ -- yellow

_Jet'wun'jot_ -- a continent of Ser'u

_keet'ee_ -- _sl._ an offensive name to call someone

_lek_ -- water

_lek'er_ -- ice

_lek'it_ -- vaporised water, steam

_mar_ -- agree, or yes

_ni'oon_ -- a fairly-sized bird with bright blue feathers

_ok'da_ -- wise decision, or good

_on'sa_ -- unwise decision, or bad

_oo'g'nik_ -- rubbish, it (this item) is to be discarded

_oo'g'nik'il_ -- having no good or useful purpose

_oo'il_ -- white

_oo'in'g'oo_ -- an unnamed thing; _sl._ _oo'g'in_

_or'or_ -- blue

_ot'mar_ -- disagree, or no

_ot'ot_ -- the opposite, a form of not

_reg'gee_ -- old

_reg'tee_ -- young

_ret'ret_ -- purple

_Ser'u_ -- a planet

_Shee'ja_ -- a continent of Ser'u

_shib'ba_ -- to flaunt, to show off, or if you are being friendly; perhaps over-friendly

_takk_ -- now, this moment, this instant

_toe'poe_ -- red

_tok'ka_ -- laughable

_tok'kee_ -- _sl._ funny

_ton'to_ -- happy

_too'poo_ -- green

_top'or_ -- aqua, a mixture of blue and green

_trr_ -- desirable of nature

_tuk'ra _ -- happen, when something happens; also a job (if you are asked to do it); an act, or when a thing is done, an action

_tul'ak'ak_ -- to favour, or like females (as over males)

_tul'ka_ -- female

_uk'bel_ -- toward, as in to move toward

_uk'tuk_ -- orange

_uk'yek_ -- away from, as in to move away from

_ukka_ -- sweet, sweetener, 'sugar', the quality of (having) sweetness (a taste word)

_up'ta_ -- taking place in the past (may be used to indicate a time frame)

_up'up_ -- taking place in the present (may be used to indicate a time frame)

_ve'ga_ -- left, as in the direction

_wa'wa_ -- pink

_wer'wer_ -- cold (if something is colder, or possessing coldness add _-wer'w_ to the end)

_wer'won_ -- hot (if something is hotter, or possessing hotness add _-wer'n_ to the end)

_wok'wok_ -- to move, the action of moving

_yag'ga_ -- tall, the quality of being tall; also, long

_yag'ug_ -- short, the quality of shortness

_yar'k_ -- _pl._ they (when you don't include yourself in this grouping)

_yar'k'bear_ -- _pl._ we/us (they; when you include yourself in this grouping)

_yer'k_ -- a person; you, she/he/it

_yer'k'bet_ -- a person, me/I

_yin_, for something to stop; stop, cease

yon'yon -- just right, an in-between temperature; also taken to mean perfect, or fitting (_sl._ _yon _or _yong _(for 'perfect'/'fitting' only))

_yoo'b_ -- to bring, to have brought

_yop_, for something to go or start; go, begin

_yop'pa_ -- to go with

_yop'po_ -- to go to; go to, also come

_yub_ -- to call out to someone; call, called

_yub'ub_ -- to call for something or someone; also to ask, demand, or enquire

_yubba _-- to talk, or to call someone or something a word/name

_yun'yun'yuk_ -- it isn't funny, something which in not amusing; _sl._ _yun'ka_

_yup'toe_ -- taking place in the future (may be used to indicated time frame); also _sl._ _yut_

* * *

_pl._ -- a plural word

_sl._ -- a slang word

* * *

If a name is used at the end of a sentence, it is considered an offensive gesture in Ser'uan.

On Ser'u 'English' is taught in school as there are so many planets in the Pegasus Galaxy on which it is spoken as a first language; Ser'u's first language is Ser'uan.

Slang words may be repeated, e.g. _chee chee_.

For colours, add '-wa' for the light version of a colour, and '-hu' for the dark, e.g. light blue _or'or-wa_.

To show possession of something, add the name at the end of the thing that is in ownership, e.g. Ter'ber's ni'oon: _ni'oon-Ter'ber_.

* To show the origin of something, add the origin before the word and add _'ch_ to the end of the word, e.g. a ni'oon from Feng'a: _Feng'a ni'oon'ch_.

* * *

Translations (Ser'uan to English)

_Trr! Yug'ga ib'ib yon!_ -- Desireable! The tall male is just right!

_Fen'fen ukka! Hm'm! Ok'da!_ -- Loosely: Our biscuits are sweet! Mmm, a good idea!

_Yer'k g'nik'nik heb'men'pa? Yer'k har'ka g'nik'nik heb'men'pa? Yub'ub yar'k'bear! Yop'po!_ -- Are you sick? Do you feel unwell? Ask us! Come to us!

* * *

Ser'uan Characters

_Far'oon_ -- Tiktik's little brother; 4

_Hik'ee Ten'yo_ -- Pik'ik's older sister, also works at beauty parlour, married to the owner

_Mamso_ -- Tiktik and Far'oon's mother

_Mil'ckk_ -- 17; Selka's friend, schoolgirl

_Pik'ik_ -- girl at beauty parlour, worker

_Pom!pom! Farewell_ (English, career name) -- plays 'Serena'; _Ta'boe Kan'kun_

_Selka_ -- 16; Mil'ckk's friend, schoolgirl

_Tiktik_ -- 17, schoolgirl

_Und'wa Ten'yo_ -- owner of beauty parlour

_Wave_ (English, career name) -- plays 'Adda'; _Hee'ka Hee'ta_

_Wit'yek_ -- boy working at eatery

_Wob'ub_ -- serves at eatery in food court

* * *

Atlantis Base Characters

_Ailya Torreno_ -- lab assistant, works with Rodney and Radek

_Clifford 'Cliff' Sargent_ -- linguist, language expert; Canadian

_Kee King_ -- civilian geographer; English


	2. Chapter 2

2.

'Serena', or Pom!pom!, Ailya learned on their second day, was a career name, or title, and her real name was Ta'boe Kan'kun, and the real name of her co-star, who played 'Adda' on what was being dubbed _STTS_, was Hee'ka Hee'ta.

Ailya didn't know about everybody's names, but she really rather preferred her own, she told Rodney. There'd been Wob'ub in the eatery in the food court on 35 yesterday (a woman), and today, in a food court on 12 there was Wit'yek, a young man. Then, also yesterday, Pik'ik, a teenager from what appeared to be a beauty parlour, and her older sister, and wife of the parlour's owner, Und'wa Ten'yo, Hik'ee. That one in particular, she'd commented on -- because, what a name!

The city they were in was called Feng'a, apparently.

Radek kept to himself, and his work, mostly. He didn't want to get in the way of Ailya who might have something to say about his name, or his native language.

It was whilst he was keeping to himself at a table in the food court that he noticed the mean teenaged girl from the elevator the day before, today, holding the hand of a small child, probably only four, and an older woman who was most likely their mother. He didn't mean to, but he caught enough of their conversation to figure out that the boy's name was Far'oon, or that, in any case, it meant child, and that the older woman was addressed as Mamso by another woman in the food court, as well as by Tiktik and the little boy.

When Tiktik saw him, he looked away quickly, but not quickly enough so that she didn't come storming over to the table where he sat. When she didn't start yelling, he let himself look up again.

"Tiktik, small brother sit table?" she asked, in English.

He thought about an excuse he could make, or, actually, a few, but they all sounded... well, he wasn't sure she'd even understand them, to be honest, so he nodded; yes, and hoped that the gesture would be understood.

Judging by the fact that the boy, Far'oon was deposited onto one of the seats, before the teenager took a seat herself, he guessed she'd understood. "Planet you is from?" she enquired, taking hold of her brother's hand to stop his squirming.

Radek scratched his neck. How to answer?

Tiktik waved her hand; there was no need for an answer. "Look brother; get... food?" she asked, looking over at Far'oon. She said something in Ser'uan to her brother.

Radek nodded quickly, before he'd really thought much about it, but before he could say something to take it back, Tiktik had already left the table, apparently to return with food.

He didn't even know what the food was he was eating, but he'd decided, after Rodney had had a fit trying to explain that he was allergic to anything lemony, that it didn't matter as long as it was edible. "Radek," he introduced to the child, feeling fairly silly.

Far'oon smiled. "_Ek! Yer'k reg'gee_!"

He nodded, "Okay..."

The sound of laughter had him turning his head to look, and he saw that it was Ailya, and that she was walking over. _Great_, he thought, but it wasn't really great.

Far'oon clapped his hands, apparently enjoying the laughter.

"He's cute, but I hope you're not planning on keeping him, doctor," Ailya commented.

"No, am just looking over him," Radek replied.

"Looking 'after' him, don't you mean?"

Radek nodded, then felt stupid. Across the table, he noticed Far'oon nod, too, copying him.

"_On'sa_!" the little child cried.

"What is he saying?" she asked, frowning.

"I don't know," Radek said.

"You haven't... accidentally bought him, have you?"

Radek made a face. "I don't think so," he told her.

She nodded; Far'oon nodded, too. "You don't _think_ so," she echoed. She turned and walked away.

Far'oon laughed. "_Ba_!" he cried after her.

"Yes, ba," Radek agreed, though he had no idea what it meant.

"_Yun'ka_!" Far'oon lamented. A jingle came over the speaker system and his chin shot up. "_Serna_!" he cried. Serena.

Radek nodded. He recognised the tune from the boy's shoes the day before.

"_Ok'da_!"

"_Oon, fon ok'da_?" Tiktik's voice interrupted, a moment later, and the girl appeared carrying a tray of food.

"_Serna_!" Far'oon yelped, excitedly.

Tiktik pulled a face. "_On'sa, yun'yun'yuk_," she told him.

"_Yer'k'bet har'ka ok'da_!" the smaller child protested.

"_On'sa_," his sister told him, turning her eyes into frowning eyes. She shook her head, pushing an item of food over to him despite his sudden glare, and glanced at Radek. "_Far'oon her'ta _Serena Tropical_ tok'kee_," she explained. "Think it laugh... makes laughs." She imitated a peel of laughter; Far'oon's eyes flashed menace. "_Tok'kee ot'ot. Yun'yun'yuk. On'sa, up'ta; yup'toe._ Tiktik think laughs not; is bad. Bad past, bad... to future. _Yup'toe ek'ba._ Want go, gone, stop." She gave another fake laugh, and rolled her eyes. "Not-ta laughs. _Fek tuk'ra yin yer'k'bet har'ka ton'to -- ok'da._"

"I wouldn't know," Radek told her. He didn't need that argument, not after Ailya.

Tiktik nodded, and dropped her eyes to her food. "_Fek tuk'ra yup'toe._"

* * *

The linguist, Clifford Sargent -- Cliff, to friends -- and geographer, Kee King, arrived on the fifth day, and told them about the river, Ban'ok'nam, and the three continents, Foo'lop, Shee'ja, and Jet'wun'jot. Feng'a, apparently, was a part of Foo'lop; one of its larger cities, and marked by the Ban'ok'nam.

To give the native greeting was _ek'ek_, and to farewell an acquaintance was _ek'ba_, and that was all they'd got so far.

Kee, however, decided that she didn't like Ailya, and that the two of them were to have a great deal more arguments from then on. (Ronon wasn't really fussed. He'd started to like that _Serena_ thing, though, due to the amount of time he'd now spent watching it when he wasn't wanted by anyone for anything in particular.)

* * *

Ignoring Cliff and Kee's argument over which was more aesthetic, the Canadian 'wilds' or the English 'countryside,' Radek joined Rodney, Ailya, and Ronon in the forward section of the elevator; Cliff and Kee were already being laughed at by a group of small children, presumably with their education facilitator.

On the way to the place where they usually spent their time working, examining technology, etc., Radek frowned at a shop with a flashing pink ring, wondering what exactly it meant, and was nearly walked onto by Rodney.

"Feeling unwell, Zelenka?" Rodney asked, then, to Radek's blank look, "The pink round-y whatnot..." he waved a finger in a circle, "medical symbol, I suppose you could say." Spotting Cliff and Kee making their way over, he moaned, and glanced longingly at the medical kiosk for a long moment, before moving on.

"Would you mind shutting it?" Ailya asked them both, when they got close enough to be in earshot, but they didn't hear her. She trotted after Rodney with a sour look on her face. They were going to get _so_ far with those two heckling one another all day long and doing little of anything else!

* * *

_Fen'fen ukka! Hm'm! Ok'da!_ was splashed across Tiktik's tee shirt when she met Radek in the food court over lunch. He didn't ask what it meant, but supposed that it had something to do with the smiling biscuit on her top with the full red lips.

It gave him the creeps, a little bit, so he decided maybe he didn't want to know, and maybe that it'd be for the best that way.

"_Yer'k har'ka gup'gup fen heb'men'pa_?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No."

She took a biscuit out of a box she was holding and held it out to him. "Sweet...?"

"Perhaps later," he told her.

She frowned. "More time for making thoughts," she concluded.

He nodded. Yes, he needed more time to make up his mind.

"Yes, good. _Ok'da_!"

"_Ok'da_!"

* * *

As he made his way back to the elevators after lunch, Ronon walking with him, Radek paused to make out the writing scrawling across the sign over the medical kiosk: _Yer'k g'nik'nik heb'men'pa? Yer'k har'ka g'nik'nik heb'men'pa? Yub'ub yar'k'bear! Yop'po!_

Ronon stopped with him, a frown coming to his face. "Are you right?" he asked, but not as Rodney had earlier; Ronon was concerned, not making a joke.

"Yes, am good!" he hurried to assure the younger man towering beside him with a look of worry on his face. "I was wondering what the words mean," he explained.

"Yeah, same here," Ronon replied, kind of hollowly. It seemed pretty strange not to be able to speak to people all of a sudden when there were so many of them around.

They continued walking again.

* * *

"The girl seems friendly," Ronon told him, in the elevator. (They were the only ones of their team travelling in it, this time.)

"She's very young," Radek commented.

Ronon shrugged; she was young, but she wasn't too young. "Why do you think she's talking to you? Not that I think... What is the name of it when you..." He frowned.

Radek shook his head. He understood that he wasn't being discriminatory. "I have feeling she is learning English at school," he said.

Ronon's brow creased. "English?" he asked, unfamiliar with the term. "Like... England?"

"Yes, is what we are speaking," Radek told him.

"English," Ronon repeating, filing the fact away safely. "On Earth, a lot of people speak English."

"Language spreads," Radek agreed.

"So, what is the other language you speak called?"

"Czech."

"You're... Czech," he'd heard that, before, coming from other people, "so you speak Czech?"

Radek nodded. "Yes..."

"Are there a lot of languages on Earth?"

Radek nodded again. "A lot of languages, but some are now dead. Some languages have not been spoken for so long, no one knows any longer how to speak them. They are written down, but even written down they are pictures, or symbols, and there is no way to understand how they would be spoken."

Ronon inclined his head in a nod. Right, he got it. "That's what Jackson does!"

"Yes."

"So, how does he know how to speak the dead languages?"

"He reads them, yes, but is not able to speak them, unless... there is a meeting with beings where it is still spoken as language, but even so, it may not be how Earth forms were spoken."

"A lucky guess."

"Workable guess, yes."

Ronon sighed. "Sounds like fun."

"For Daniel."

Ronon laughed. "We've all got our own idea of interesting, I guess."

"Yes, we have," Radek agreed.

The elevator came to a standstill and the doors opened. Rodney stuck his head inside, staying outside in the corridor. "Ailya's not with you guys?"

"Nope," Ronon snapped in quick reply.

Rodney huffed, and turned and walked away. Radek and Ronon followed him into the corridor, hoping there hadn't been an argument between Ailya and Cliff or Kee.

* * *

"_Yug'ga ib'ib yon_!"

Radek nodded to the chattering women in greeting, and they nodded back, growing suddenly silent. It was obvious they'd been watching Ronon, though. He wanted to tell them not to be frightened by him, that he wasn't the sort to hurt them without reason, but he didn't exactly know how to do that.

He hoped they didn't send anyone over to ask them what they were doing; it was hard enough looking for someone in a forty-storey building without getting in trouble at every turn because someone didn't like how you looked, or thought you looked threatening.

"Torreno!"

Though it would sound silly, he heard Ronon calling the woman's name, so he plucked up the courage to do so himself. "Ailya! Ailya, are you here?"

Kee came stomping over, red in the face. "She's not here," she growled. "I've been over _everything_ -- and she's nowhere!" A scowl crossed her face.

Radek wondered if they'd recently argued over something, or if Kee was just angry because Rodney had asked her to help find Ailya and the search was pulling up nothing but blanks.

"Quit hollerin' my name for any old hag to hear!" Ailya spoke suddenly from behind him, making him start and spin about.

He noticed the eyes immediately; she'd had the irises done in a camouflage pattern. Before he could frown, Ree swooped down and began barking orders as though she was the military personnel and not just a civilian geographer.

"Can it!" Ailya told her flatly, and walked away, toward Rodney, who was looking kinda lost.

Ree's face reddened further and she stormed away.

Radek turned slowly to look at Ronon, who grinned; he didn't want in in it, either, but it was pretty funny to see two adults yelling at each other as though they were kids, and pretty silly.

They must really have had an argument, alright!


End file.
